Chivalry; Dead or Alive?

Chivalry has been a commonplace online discussion lately. I see articles everyday in my facebook news feed that say "Chivalry is Dead!", "Chivalry is alive and well!", "Chivalry, why it needs to end", "Chivalry is a facade made up by women who don't want to sleep with men" - What!?

My concern is that there's too much exposure on how it is dead and that in turn men who would otherwise hold true to act like a chivalrous gentlemen, take the lower road believing that there's no longer a need to be a good man, to put in the effort even if she sleeps with you on the first night, or to even put in the effort if she doesn't cave to sex in the first ten minutes you drunkenly met her. Or, as many college students have come to know it, men will cave to hookup culture.

Now I'm not bashing on hookup culture. In fact I believe its an important part of the college experience if its something you're interested in participating in, I know I have. But that doesn't mean that you can't still be chivalrous, or act like a gentlemen when pursuing women for sex. Why not offer to drive her home in the morning, or god forbid offer to make her breakfast, even if its just eggs and bacon. I hear way to much about how "I just sent her a text, we boned, then I kicked her out." Now I see the bro humor in it don't get me wrong, but its still disrespectful. How would you feel if a guy treated your daughter, or sister that way. You would probably be pissed, so why propagate it through your own actions?

I'm not strictly targeting men here either though, women are equally responsible in the downfall of chivalry. I read a great article, Titled "Why Chivalry Is Dead, From A Woman’s Perspective" which actually inspired this post, written by Aksa Manzer a writer for Elite Daily. In the article she goes in to some depth on how women are equally responsible due to the fact that if guys fail to rise to the occasion women will eventually cave to the game that is hookup culture. I agree, if men never step up to the plate women's expectations will eventually fall to the new standard where a lack of chivalry is expected. What happens then when men once again become too lazy to step up to that standard, the same process. Where does that leave us? Definitely in a place that we don't want our children growing up in, that's for sure.

So how do we remedy this situation? First of, I think it best if women hold true to their expectations of men. Don't falter in the face of adversity and change, if you keep your standard of what you deserve true, then eventually you will come to meet someone you deserve. However that can never happen if men fail to step up and rise to the occasion. I'm a firm believer in being a gentlemen, I have had my moments where I faltered, or took the wrong path, and however negative those experiences for both myself and the women I affected, it eventually made me a better man for realizing my mistakes. But I still, even after those experiences believe in being a gentlemen. Hold the girls hand, open the car door for her, ask for her number so you can get to know her - not just text half an hour later to hook up, take her out to dinner, go walk a dog with her, introduce her to your friends, and sleep with her when its right, not just because you can. Chivalry isn't dead yet, but its plagued by our lack of effort, and women's willingness to lower their standards to our laziness. If we can turn that around, maybe someday soon we'll see its glorious knight in shinning armor return to our culture.